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Leo Lamoureux

Leo Lamoureux was a fine hockey player who played in England, Canada, and the United States at the Junior and Senior levels. He is best known for his 235 National Hockey League games with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1940s, over the course of which he played on teams that won four Prince of Wales Trophies and two Stanley Cups.

Leo Lamoureux was born on October 1, 1916 in Espanola, Ontario, a small town about an hour southwest of Sudbury.

Lamoureux had moved to Windsor by the time he enrolled in high school. He attended Windsor-Walkerville Technical, where he developed a reputation as a fine all-around athlete. He began to play Senior hockey with the Windor Mic Macs at the tender age of 15.

Lamoureux played Junior hockey for Oshawa in the OHA before moving on to play for Timmins (1935-36) and Kirkland Lake (1936-37) in the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. He returned home to play for the Windsor Chryslers in the Michigan-Ontario Hockey League, averaging nearly a point per game in the 1937-38 season. Unusually, he enjoyed a brief stint in English hockey in 1938-39, scoring a staggering 23 points in 9 games with the Earls Court Rangers. In search of better competition, Lamoureux came back to Canada to play two seasons of QSHL and OHL Senior hockey before finally reaching the NHL.

Lamoureux played one game for the Montreal Canadiens in 1941-42, during which he spent most of his time with the AHL’s Washington Lions. He spent the entirety of the next five years with the Canadiens, winning Stanley Cups in 1943-44 and and ’45-46. Lamoureux also won the Prince of Wales Trophy, awarded to the team with the best regular season record, in four of his five years in Montreal.

In 1943-44, his most productive season, Lamoureux tallied 31 points in 44 regular season games, plus a further 3 in 9 postseason en route to a Canadiens Stanley Cup victory.

Over the course of his NHL career, Lamoureux scored 19 goals and added 79 points to tally 98 points.

Following his time at the highest level, Lamoureux played for Buffalo-Springfield in the AHL, Shawinigan in the QSHL, Detroit Hettche in the IHL, and Charlottetown in the MMHL. He retired in 1953 following a final eight-game season with the North Bay Trappers of the NOHA. Lamoureux briefly came out of retirement for the 1955-56 season to play 24 games with the IHL’s Indianapolis Chiefs.

Lamoureux enjoyed a successful second career as a coach. He worked for longer than a decade in Shawinigan Falls, Charlottetown, North Bay, and Indianapolis.